ATLANTA—With broadcasters and MVPDs facing increased regulatory scrutiny over contentious retransmission consent negotiations that have resulted in high profile blackouts of broadcast signals on pay TV operators, Gray Television has announced that it has successfully completed renewals of retransmission consent agreements representing more than 70 percent of its total subscriber footprint among cable, satellite, and telco multichannel video programming distributors.
The renewals have occurred in its current three-year retransmission renewal cycle that began with the successful renewal of agreements with three of the largest traditional MVPDs in the first quarter of 2023.
“Consistent with Gray’s history of retransmission renewal negotiations since the early 1990s, these negotiations, while often difficult and always complex, were all conducted without any disruption to consumers,” said Gray’s senior vice president Rob Folliard. “We sincerely appreciate the cooperative, constructive efforts of our MVPD partners in this renewal cycle.”
Gray’s executive vice president, Kevin Latek, added, “as a testament to the value of the live, local news and sports content that Gray’s stations provide, we have reached this retrans renewal milestone on rates and other terms that met our budgets and that will allow our stations to continue making considerable investments to expand local news and sports for the benefit of the local communities where our employees and these MVPDs’ employees live and work.”
Based on the successful negotiations with traditional MVPDs to date, Gray currently anticipates that it will complete its current renewal cycle by reaching new deals with a small number of cable operators serving less than thirty percent of our remaining traditional MVPD subscriber base, primarily during the second half of this year. Thereafter, Gray’s next renewal cycle will begin in the first quarter of 2026.
Gray Television, Inc. is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Gray is the nation’s largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets in the United States. Its television stations serve 114 television markets that collectively reach approximately 36 percent of US television households. This portfolio includes 79 markets with the top-rated television station and 102 markets with the first and/or second highest rated television station.
